Wyre Forest Callow Hill area

Wimperhill Key Wood

Parking 110 rook National Cycle Network s B 45 Information le y w a o ilw D ra d Toilets se su di All access 70

Cafe Play area Picnic area 90 90 Horse riding New Parks

Buzzard Trail Woodpecker 110 Trail 110 7 Black Wren Trail Gate 8 Family 6 Mountain Bike New Parks Park Brook Bench Trail Corner 9 National 120 Cycle Route 6 Public footpaths Key to trees Arboretum 5 4 Public 1 European Larch 8 7 bridleways 3 2 Holly Bore 10 Park 1 Emergency Hole 3 Pool 3 Douglas Fir 9 numbered 3 4 Callow 13 5 Silver Birch posts 13 Hill 6 Wild Service 140 3 0 100 200m 2 7 True Service (Whitty Pear) 16 3 3 8 Ash 9 Scots Pine 2 11 10 Corsican Pine 11 Buckthorn 9 10 5 Doghanging 5 12 Hazel Coppice Woodland 13 Hawthorn Giants

11 NB: Some numbers relate to 15 4 individual trees and some to 13 140 plantations of a single species. 5 1 10 12 10 4 As you learn the trees see if 9 you can spot them at other 12 1 Albert’s Oak locations around the route. 8 150 170 14 (Eg silver birch is very common 3 just about everywhere!)

Discovery 160 You will also come across Centre 1 2 different tree species on this Bewdley route - look at their leaves, buds and bark and see if you Oak Wyre Visitor Centre can identify what they are by Tenbury Wells using a book or the internet. A456 (Pedunculate and Sessile) 0 scale ok 500m Use this map to find an example of this tree when you next visit Wyre.

Alternatively, to print a bigger version click here. Pedunculate Oak - identification Pedunculate Oak -

The Pedunculate Oak is a broadleaf deciduous tree and widespread, particu- larly on clay soils.

Folklore What’s in a name?

The oak tree has a long history of folklore throughout Europe. The oak was sacred to many people, including the ancient Greeks, the Norse and the Celts. It was often associated with the gods of thunder as oak was often split * Flowers and seed by lightning. This is probably The acorn is the ripened fruit or seed of the tree. It because are often the tallest tree in any area. More looks like an egg in a cup. recently oak was the sacred On the Pedunculate Oak the acorn is on a stalk wood burnt by the druids for their mid-summer sacrifice. called a “peduncle”. In fact the word ‘druid’ Male and female flowers are found on the same means ‘oak man’ In modern tree. Male flowers are long green catkins. Female history, tradition has it that Charles II hid in an oak tree flowers look like buds with bracts at the tips of the at Boscobel when pursued by shoots. the Roundheads. Since then, children wear oak leaves on May 29th to commemorate Also called Common Oak or English Oak, the Oak is the Royal Oak Day (now known as Oak Apple Day). largest of our native broad-leaved trees, regarded as * Leaves “the King of the forest”, Oaks are sturdy and tall with The leaves have large deep lobes and smooth edges. There are two domed crowns. The broad rounded canopy has wide tiny lobes where the leaf joins the spreading thick lower branches. There are two native stalk. They are dark green, turning Oaks in Wyre, the other being the Sessile Oak (Quercus orangy-brown in autumn. The leaf petraea). Both have the different characteristics of stalk is short. leaves and acorns.

Size Age Oaks can grow over Often 1000 years old! 40m high and over 3m in diameter. www.foresteducation.org/ * Bark search/learning_results/ The greyish bark has very knobbly ridges and deep fissures. Sessile Oak - identification Sessile Oak -

The Sessile Oak is widespread, particularly in North and West Britain, including the Wyre Forest

Folklore * Flowers and seed What’s in a name? The acorn is the ripened fruit or seed of the tree. It looks like an egg in a cup. Unlike the Pedunculate oak, the acorn of a British people have always Sessile oak has almost no stalk. loved the Oak. Its great size, low branches and hollows in the trunk mean it was used as a natural tree house, hiding place and social centre. * Leaves Robin Hood was said to The wavy dark green lobed leaves are very have lived in the Major Oak in Sherwood Forest. Kings distinctive with their long (1-2cm) yellow stalks. and Queens have hosted The leaf bases do not have rounded lobes at the many a social event around a big old Oak. Oak trees were base, but are wedge shaped often landmarks and are still found in many place names such as Sevenoaks in Kent, . The Gaelic word for Oak is “dairoch” and is seen place names in Scotland such as “Craigendairoch” or “Clasindairoch”. The Welsh word “der” can be seen in place names like Derwen and Deri. In Irish “doire” means The Oak is the largest of our native broad-leaved oakwood. trees, regarded as “the King of the forest”. Sessile Oaks have straighter branches than the Pedunculate Oak, radiating from a more upright trunk. Sessile and Pedunculate Oaks often hybridise and their ranges overlap. In Wyre you may find leaves with rounded lobes at the base with a long stalk, for example.

Size Age Oaks can grow over Oaks often reach an 40m high and over age of 300 years old! * Bark 3m in diameter. www.foresteducation.org/ The Greyish bark has very fine search/learning_results/ vertical cracks and ridges forming shapes called “plates”. Oak - associated fungi and lichens

Damp and humid conditions in an Oak wood are the perfect conditions for lichens to grow. Some fungi can seriously damage wood and kill trees. The fruiting bodies of many fungi often appear as ‘brackets’ on the bark, producing spores.

* Chlorociboria aeuruginacens A saprophytic fungus common in The Wyre on dead oak branches.

* Beefsteak fungus - Fistulina hepatica This parasitic fungus attacks Oak and can give a deep brown colour to the timber, enhancing its market value. * Bulgaria inquinans A saprophytic fungus common in The Wyre on dead oak branches. Oak - associated fungi and lichens (cont.) Oak - associated wildlife

* Bryophytes - are the group of non-flowering In the UK, Oak provides a habitat for more organisms, and especially , plants which include mosses and liverworts, and 65 than any other tree. Because of its large size and longevity, it plays a unique species grow on the trunks and branches of oaks. role in forest ecosystems and many species have adapted to live with it.

* Lichens Every oak tree is a reserve in its own right. 350 different species of are A remarkable diversity of lichens, totalling over 300 supported by Oak. A single oak tree may have over 30 different lichen species species, have been recorded growing on oaks. on its bark.. Huge numbers of creatures seek food and shelter in crevices of the bark, in the canopy of fresh leaves, hollow trunks of old trees, leaf litter and branches of dead wood and rotting wood on the forest floor.

Because of the large numbers of insects and other invertebrates which feed upon Oaks, many of the leaves can be tattered and have numerous holes in them by late July.

Oaks then produce a new flush of leaves, especially on young trees, and this phenomenon is called lammas growth, because it occurs around the time of Lammas, the Celtic festival of first fruits, on 1st August.

In autumn, the leaves turn various shades of yellow and brown, as chlorophyll is withdrawn from them and carotenoid pigments become visible instead. In some areas, the leaves are shed at the end of October, but in milder areas a few leaves will stay on the trees until December.

* Oak apples and other galls Oak apples and other galls grow around the eggs of insects laid in the buds. Over 40 species, including midges, mites and wasps, are responsible for stimulating the oak to produce these unusual growth forms on its leaves or twigs, within which the larva of the insect lives and feeds. Oak - associated wildlife (insects) Oak - associated wildlife (birds and mammals) * Great Oak Beauty - roboraria There is a lot of competition for the acorns of the A large but well camouflaged moth whose caterpillars Oak tree. Here are the main suspects to look out resemble a twig when at rest, and feed on oak leaves. Wildlife Spotter for. To download a wildlife spotter chart click here

* Grey Squirrel They peel the acorns first then bury them to store for winter food.

* The purple hairstreak ( quercus) is the only whose larvae feed exclusively on oak leaves.

* Jay

* Wood Ant The ants climb to the top of the tree to find the aphids which they then “milk” by stroking them until they ooze sweet, sticky honeydew.

* Fallow Deer Oak - timber properties Oak - uses past and present

Oak timber is strong and durable. The heartwood resists penetration by liquids, The most prominent use of Oak is as a timber tree. Traditionally, Oak making it ideal for posts in contact with the ground. was a highly prized timber and was particularly used in ship building in the days of wooden ships. Its timber is also still used in buildings, for The timber is best once the tree has reached about 150-200 years old. It has furniture and a whole range of other joinery uses. conspicuous growth rings which give a characteristic silver grain when quarter- The strength, durability and the straight, close grain of the Sessile Oak, cut or split. make it ideal for barrels and casks. When used in this way, the wood imparts a particular flavour to wines and spirits. The Sessile Oak is taller and straighter than the Peduculate Oak. Oak bark peeling was a traditional industry in Wyre, as the tannin in oak bark was used in the leather tanneries in Bewdley.

Pigs were allowed to forage for acorns in the forest in order to fatten them up as they are a rich food source.

Like many other trees the smaller branches and twigs were used for firewood or charcoal making. Charcoal production using coppiced Oak was a major industry in Wyre until the Industrial Revolution. Charcoal fuelled the local iron furnaces and the salt evaporation works in Droitwich.

Because of our long history with this species, Oaks are often used in ceremonial or commorative plantings. They are used as landmarks and at the edge of the Ribbesford Wood you can still see the stump of the Gospel Oak where John Wesley preached in the 18th century. You will also often see them pollarded as boundary trees in Wyre and other woodlands.

Even sawdust was, and still is, used for smoking food. Oak from Wyre is currently used in building, fencing and fuel (woodchip and logs). Young Oak from Wyre is used for making distinctive rustic garden furniture. Oak - activity

OAK APPLE INK

Oak produces tannin. Oak bark used to be harvested by gangs of men and women in the Wyre Forest when the sap rose in the spring. Then it was transported to the riverside in Bewdley to be used in the leather tanning industry.

You can use tannin to make a useable ink. Oak apples or marble galls (both caused by eggs laid by gall wasps) can be gathered from oak twigs most easily in early spring before the leaves appear. Crush a handful and put them to soak either in an iron pan or another metal pan with a couple of rusty nails added. Boil them up for about half an hour then leave the mixture for a few days before straining and keeping the liquid.

Your ink will get darker in time but you can make it blacker by adding sooty “lampblack” collected on the back of a spoon above a candle flame. BE VERY CAREFUL – THE SPOON WILL GET HOT! The ink is acidic and will etch into the paper when you write with it. This means that it will not fade.

Thanks to “The Garden Cottage Diaries” by Fiona J. Houston, 2009 Saraband (Scotland) Ltd for this recipe.